GM Shift to Park Error Class Action Lawsuit Overview:
- Who: Chevy owners have lodged a class action lawsuit against General Motors LLC (GM).
- Why: Plaintiffs allege GM is refusing to fix a defect affecting hundreds of thousands of its popular Chevy vehicles, including the Malibu, Volt, and Blazer.
- Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in Michigan federal court.
General Motors (GM) designed, manufactured, marketed, distributed, serviced and sold vehicles that fail to detect when they are put in park, instead signaling a “shift to park” error, a class action lawsuit alleges.
Lead plaintiffs, James Bertagnolli, Gregory Fladeboe, and Juanita Crawford allege the shift defect affects hundreds of thousands of 2016-19 Chevrolet Malibus, 2016-19 Chevrolet Volts, 2018-19 Chevrolet Traverses, and 2019 Chevrolet Blazers. They want to represent owners of those vehicles in a class action lawsuit filed in Michigan federal court.
Bertagnolli, Fladeboe, and Crawford claim the shift to park defect does not allow them to shut off their vehicles and Chevy owners must resort to “tricking” their vehicles into detecting that the vehicles shift lever is in the park position.
Automaker Will Not Fix Shift to Park Defect
The class action lawsuit alleges GM had knowledge of the defect, as evidenced by posting a bulletin to its dealerships back in 2017, however failed to address or resolve the issue with drivers.
The plaintiffs say that they and other Chevy owners are forced to fix the shift to park error at their own expense.
The plaintiffs claim this is a breach of contract on the behalf of the Defendant and is in violation of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, which governs warranties on consumer products.
“Had Plaintiffs and other proposed Class Members known that the defect existed at the time of purchase or lease, they would not have bought or leased the Class Vehicles, or would have paid substantially less for them,” states the shift to park class action lawsuit.
Bertagnolli, Fladeboe, and Crawford are seeking damages and restitution from General Motors for themselves and on behalf of all others similarly situated. The plaintiffs are also asking the automaker to notify all Class Members about the shift defect.
Another class action lawsuit filed earlier this month against General Motors alleges it knew millions of its SUVs were fitted with defective airbags and seatbelts.
The allegations came just days after the car manufacturer issued a recall on 50,000 of its Chevrolet Volt electric vehicles determined to be a fire risk on account of a battery defect.
Do you own a Chevy Malibu, Volt, Traverse, or Blazer? If so, do you have trouble turning off your vehicle? Let us know in the comments!
The plaintiffs are represented by David H. Fink of Fink Bressack, Michael F. Ram and Marie N. Appel of Morgan & Morgan Complex Litigation Group, and Samuel J. Strauss of Turke Strauss, LLP.
The GM Shift to Park Defect Class Action Lawsuit is Bertagnolli et al. v. General Motors LLC, Case No. 2:21-cv-11910, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan Southern Division.
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220 thoughts onGM Refusing to Fix ‘Shift to Park’ Error in Popular Chevy Vehicles, Says Class Action
We have a 2019 Traverse that we bought brand new, and we cannot park without getting this error message. This keeps us from locking our vehicle. We consistently have to turn the car back on, shift into gear, shift back into park and turn the car off again; only to get the error message each time. We have to repeat this cycle up to 10 times before the car will actually register parked and completely shut off. Our Traverse has just over 30K miles on it and this just started happening in the last 4 days. We would be very interested in joining a class action lawsuit. If this has been a known issue since 2017, why wasn’t it corrected before manufacturing 2018 and 2019 models?
I just bought a used chevy maliibu and it’s having the shift to park message
My husband has a 2017 Chevy Malibu that has the shift to park issue. It only has 34k miles and he bought it new. It started in 2021. We live in MA. We called the Dealership McLaughlin Chevrolet in Whitman MA and they referred us to GM. We called and initially they told me that he had to get a 150.00 dx cost from their dealership to get the GM to even consider to pay for this service. I mentioned the class actin suit and they won’t discuss it. We then were told that maybe they could use the expired but still under 36k miles warranty to fix it. Then they took that back and told us they would maybe contribute to reimburse us. I say go to small claims and sue them directly Under Ch 93A and get treble damages for a consumer complaint.. THis known defect should be covered completely for dx and repair because GM knew and took advantage of us owners. Shame on them, don’t buy GM!
From Orlando, Florida. 2019 Chevrolet Traverse (38,000 miles) same “Shift to Park” notification accompanied with noise. Should’ve been covered by warranty, but still had to pay a $100 deductible and I believe they are trying to charge me for even more. If this is a defect, shouldn’t we be reimbursed?
Just spent $800 for my 2020 GMC Acadia to have this problem fixed. Would just keep beeping and the center counsel would show a warning “shift into park” even though it was already shifted into park. Frustrating to see this has been a problem GM has known about for 4 years and did nothing about. I would not have bought the Acadia had I know.
I him in Ontario Canada and have the same problem with 2018 volt I purchased in February 2022. Obviously GM has no interest in spending millions of dollars fixing a problem they created. Can Canadians join this class action suit?
Hi there, I live in Canada to. Just started having the problem on our 2017 Malibu, doesn’t even have 40000km
We have a 2019 Traverse and we cannot park without getting this error message. With this active you cannot even lock your vehicle.
Same with my 16 Malibu. I just had to replace my battery because this issue drained it and it could not be jump started
My 2018 traverse with 51,000 miles is currently at the dealership being repaired for this exact issue. Almost $400 when it should be recalled and repaired at GM’s expense when it’s a known issue. Absolutely horrible!! The dealership even told me another traverse is in there currently for the same issue and they wish they could just keep the parts in stock 100% of the time because that’s how often they’re fixing this issue. Why are we (consumers) paying for the manufacturers error!?
I have got this fixed once on my Chevy Malibu 2016 and its doing it again
2019 RS Blazer has the same issue with “shift to park”. It’s absolutely ridiculous that GM has not sent a recall or paid for repairs since this is a known issue. I love my Blazer but GM will be losing my business if they don’t step up and take accountability for the issue.
I just starting having the exact problem on a 2020 RS Blazer. After researching I did No know this was a common problem.
I camt get out of my vehicle to go to class or the store someday due to the shift to park issue. There is no recall so I’m stuck dealing with it until I can fix it. It is very inconvenient when my traverse is a 2018 with 41,000 miles.